Various types of prior art containers for both domestic and industrial utilization have incorporated bails which serve as handles for the containers. Most commonly, bails are provided in the form of U-shaped wire members having right angularly bent extremities which are spring-biased into corresponding openings provided on the wall of the container.
This particular type of construction has been utilized in containers fabricated from both metal and synthetic plastic. However, such conventional wire bails can be easily dislocated from engagement with the mounting openings therefor and, in addition, they are subject to oxidization and require the provision of a separate handle which is mounted intermediate the extremities thereof.
Since the introduction of containers fabricated from synthetic plastics, numerous attempts have been made to provide bails fabricated from the same material as the container itself. However, some difficulty has been encountered in providing adequate mounting means for the bails on the container with which they are associated. This is due to the fact that the most common form of attachment of plastic bails to associated plastic containers involves what is known as keyhole slots which incorporate conventionally shaped keyhole openings constituting receptor and locating means for corresponding and cooperating members on the extremities of the bail.
Unfortunately, such conventional expedients have not been successful because, conventionally, the engagement means on the opposite extremities of the bail have been sized to fit easily within the keyhole slots and, therefore, to be as easily disengaged therefrom. Consequently, there has been a tendency in the industry to abandon the utilization of plastic bails in favor of the relatively primitive wire bails and associated handles.
One of the major factors contributing to the aforesaid inadvertent disengagement of the engagement means of plastic bails from the associated keyhole openings is the relative rigidity of the bail and the opposite extremities thereof which support the aforesaid engagement means. Consequently, when the extremities of the bail are subjected to eccentric loading, as by the grasping of a bail at the side, rather than the center thereof, the rigid lever arm constituted by the adjacent extremity of the bail causes the engagement means on said extremity to pop out of the keyhole-shaped slot on the container.